What is the Goal?

I like to play color match video games. It helps me to keep my mind busy, often while avoiding chronic pain – okay, I will be honest, sometimes avoiding work that needs to be done.

I have played some Candy Crush – until I reached a level I couldn’t defeat and gave it up. I have played Zuma and other similar games. The one I play now is Gummy Drop.

No matter what the game, they all have the same premise. Match the color balls for points, avoid the various barriers that are added along the way.

Sometimes, as you progress through the game you find barriers interrupt the goal. Here is what I mean. You ( I ) have played several levels where a specific barrier must be defeated in order to win the challenge. Then I (you) become so focused on that barrier, that a new challenge comes along with those barriers, that the goal of the challenge to just accumulate so many points is missed! The barriers have nothing to do with the goal.

When I play, I have to look first at ‘what is the goal’ of the challenge, then look at the board and proceed while focusing only on the goal. I don’t always do this, thus I lose the game.

The same applies to my everyday task. What is my goal for this day, for this project, for this hour, for this moment? Another view is, what am I avoiding? Why?

The project isn’t due until Friday, but today I must work through this portion. Some need the deadline looming over them to move forward. Others need to clear obstacles. What do you need?

How will you focus on that one specific portion only. The others cannot be complete until THIS is accomplished. Ignore those obstacles of ‘what if’ and ‘he said or she said’ and ‘we may not complete the whole thing’. How you will focus on this – now.

I often relate it to a jigsaw puzzle. I don’t know about you, but everybody I know (and that is not necessarily a lot of people) focuses first on the outer border. Once the outer border is in place, strategies change. Some focus on matching colors, others focus on shapes, some just wing it and pick up every piece and try to place it on the board. No matter the process, they all have the same end goal – to complete the puzzle and make it look like the picture on the box. Same end goal, different process for the various details.

My goal for a Gummy Drop challenge may be to defeat all the barriers, or it may be simply to gather so many points. The end goal is complete each level; and each challenge will get me there, but not until I focus on and complete the stated goal.

What are you working on now? Are you stumped by the overwhelming picture? How can you break it down in your mind so that you can proceed through each step. How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time.

For some, the color match game works as focus picture. For others, it might be the mountain or the jigsaw puzzle. What image works for you?